


just want to fill up that trophy case

by wearethewitches



Series: author's favourites [15]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Humor, Canon Timeline, Family Drama, Family Feels, Gen, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, True Love, True Love's Kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-17
Updated: 2018-08-17
Packaged: 2019-06-28 22:31:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15716406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wearethewitches/pseuds/wearethewitches
Summary: Gothel's spell destroyed the world, but Roni escaped with her family...to Storybrooke?or, time travel makes for Henry Squared, a never-kidnapped Archie and two Regina's in one room - one of whom is distressed by the abundance of thrift-shop glamour.(discontinued/one-shot)





	just want to fill up that trophy case

“You have to follow me now, Henry!” Roni shouts over the high winds. Above, in the sky, Gothel’s spell swirls, crackling with a familiar dark power that radiates so far and wide. _Weaver,_ Roni thinks, heart aching. _He didn’t deserve to die that way. Neither did Tilly._

“What is that?” Henry questions, scared. He grips Jacinda and Lucy tightly, even as Roni reaches out a hand, glowing circular portal trembling behind her. “What’s going on?”

“Magic is real! Everything you wrote in your book is _real!_ If you want to live, follow me!” Roni’s eyes sting with tears, thinking of Margot and Detective Rogers trapped under a building and Zelena, _oh Zelena,_ in San Francisco without knowing her daughter is dead and that this world is to be no more. “Please, Henry, _please._ ”

A tree flies through the air, narrowly missing them and without another word, Henry pushes his wife and daughter forwards, the four of them practically falling through the portal. Roni thinks of _safety_ and _home_ , of somewhere Gothel can’t touch and when they travel through the portal, stumbling out onto concrete and narrowly missing being run over by a car as it swerves out of the way. Roni blinks, looking around, so very confused.

_Storybrooke?_

But there’s something wrong – something _off_. The magic is off, like it’s shifting in the breeze. _That’s not right, Storybrooke might be strange but the magic is static, too much filling one space…_

“What the hell?” Roni twists, recognising Granny’s lit up with neon signage behind a startled Red. “That was a portal…a weird one, but _still_ a portal.” Red scrutinises each of them, frowning deeply as she finds Roni. “Regina?”

“Regina?” Henry questions, looking at her. “Roni, what’s going on? Is…is that _Granny’s?_ Granny’s Diner? Like the Diner from my book?”

“Yes, from your book,” Roni says, distracted. “I don’t understand. We shouldn’t be here.”

“What happened to Hyperion Heights?” Jacinda asks, clutching Lucy tight. “All those people who were hurt and-”

“I know,” Roni cuts in, facing her, “I know and we can’t do anything. I used the last of the magic I had at my disposal to make that portal. Hyperion Heights is gone – all of that realm will be _gone,_ Jacinda and I’m sorry, but there’s no way for us to stop it. I don’t even know how we’re here, how we’re even _alive_ considering what realm Storybrooke resides in.”

“Realm? _Storybrooke?_ ” Jacinda makes a face, so confused and Roni doesn’t know how to explain everything to her. Jacinda is Ella, they are the same person – the Dark Curse was changed, manipulated and at the same time simplified. Roni spent years modifying her version of the spell so she could have Storybrooke.

“Can someone please explain what’s going on?” Red moves forwards, coming closer, but still keeping her distance. As a car beeps, Roni snaps her head sideways, quickly moving her family off the middle of Main Street, coming to stand just beside Red. “I don’t understand – you look _just_ like Regina, except…not.”

“I even have a tattoo,” Roni mutters, wincing. “Had. I _had_ a tattoo. You know, I understand you a lot better now, Red – dealing with your Storybrooke persona and your real self is just, _ugh_.”

“W-w-what are you on about? You were Cursed?” the werewolf stutters, just as Roni catches sight of the banner inside the Diner.

_WELCOME BACK_

_MARY-MARGARET_

_AND EMMA_

“It was nasty,” Lucy says, hugging her mother tightly. “We still don’t remember.”

“There’s- there’s nothing to remember, Luce…” Jacinda starts, voice fading out. Roni stops looking at the banner and glances at her daughter-in-law, briefly worried for her, even as her mind reels at the realisation that they have travelled back in time. _I have to make them remember, somehow._ Jacinda isn’t Ella right now and she’s just lost everything she’s ever known. Reaching out, she rests her hand on Jacinda’s arm, rubbing it comfortingly as she wonders what kind of portal she really created.

“Are you from another realm?” Red asks, “Can I get the Cliffs Notes version of how you got here, at least?”

Roni turns to Red, meeting her eyes. “When Henry graduates from high school, he goes to travel the realms to find his story. I join him after he meets another version of Cinderella. We stay in her realm, Henry grows up even more, gets married and has a kid – _this_ kid,” Roni points at Lucy, “and then my Dark Curse is stolen and cast. We all become trapped in Seattle, in a place called Hyperion Heights. Henry publishes his version of the storybook, about the events that happen in this town, his life and Lucy brings him to town, just like he did with Emma. I get forcibly awoken, all sorts of things happen and then the end of the world comes about and I bring us through a portal to here, by accident – but I’m the only one who remembers.”

“… _damn,_ ” Red bites her lip, looking around, opening her mouth to speak only to stop still, staring at something across the street. Roni looks, only to see herself in high-heeled boots and her old favourite coat, the black one that reaches to her knees. Roni twists to look at her properly – to look at Regina Mills.

 _She’s young,_ Roni thinks, almost stunned by it. The difference is little and this Storybrooke is years in the past, at least _twenty_ years in the past. Roni only has a few lines by her eyes. This Regina though – she’s not had gone through half of what Roni has. _Welcome back Mary-Margaret and Emma,_ she thinks. _They just came back from the Enchanted Forest after falling through Jefferson’s Hat. They had a party. I barely remember that party. Leroy was a dick about my lasagne._ Roni’s lip curls triumphantly in memory, _he still ate it though._

Roni doesn’t remember this, though, going to… Roni stiffens, watching Regina enter Archie’s building.

“The Cricket,” she rasps, before she’s running across the street, after the disguised figure of her mother. _No, I can’t let this happen, I get blamed just like she wants._

“Roni!” Henry calls after her and she can hear his fast foot-steps, “Roni, stop!”

Roni slams open the door, climbing the stairs quickly, coming face-to-face with Cora in her disguise as she twists in the middle of the corridor. Cora balks at the sight of her.

“Regina? What…but you went home.”

“I’m not her, but neither are you, Mother,” Roni snarls and there is a long second before Henry joins her and Cora removes the glamour in a flurry of blue smoke. Henry chokes in shock, Cora standing there in a dark blue dress and cloak, glamorous and terrifying. She tilts her head, looking at Roni.

“Who are you?”

“A time traveller of sorts,” Roni says, “I’m not sure of the specifics.”

“That’s-” Henry points, staring, “That’s Cora. That’s- that’s the witch from my book. Oh my god, it’s real, everything’s real-”

“And who is this?” Cora questions.

“Henry, grown up and cursed.” Roni forces herself not to flinch or wince or show weakness, aware of her mother’s critical gaze, looking her up and down. She sees how Cora judges her clothes, her hair and her posture. Roni likes her hair short and curled, Roni _likes_ jeans and boots and her awesome leather flower jacket. She can hold her own against her mother when it comes to those things.

Roni can’t, however, maintain the urge to straighten her back and relax her shoulders. That, probably, is what convinces her mother, most likely.

“I see. This changes things.”

“Yes, it does,” Roni says shortly. “A word of advice: hide out in the Vault until one of us finds you.”

Cora steps forwards, however, coming so close to Roni – reaching out and tilting her chin up. Roni thinks of the last time she saw her as a spirit in the Underworld, going to the Other Side, her unfinished business finally done. Seeing her again is unreal, but when Henry grabs her wrist, tugging her back roughly, she remembers that this Cora is dangerous – that this Cora isn’t _dead_ yet.

“Roni, we need to go,” Henry says. “If this is the past, we need- we need to let her kidnap Archie Hopper.”

“No,” Roni twists to face him, “No. You have no idea what this will do to me- to Regina, out there. I’ve already been through this. I refuse to let it happen again. All it does is set me back.”

Henry is still looking at her with too-wide eyes, like he’s stuck on the precipice of believing. He clenches his jaw, gripping her wrist tight.

“We still need to go. She’s dangerous. It’s not like you have your baseball bat.”

 _Or my magic,_ Roni makes a fist, glancing back at her mother, who’s still quiet – watching them. Strangely, it reminds her of Margot – Robyn, who would quietly watch on as people had conversations right in front of her, listening and planning. Robyn, who was trapped in that cavern under the well with Detective Rogers when Weaver – _Rumple_ – was sacrificed to power that spell, Tilly – _Alice_ – already bled out into that stupid symbol of the coven as the rocks came down around them.

“I could use your help figuring this out,” Roni admits, “I don’t know how we’re here.”

Cora studies her for a long moment longer before smiling widely, _dangerously._ “All you have to do is ask, Regina.”

“It’s Roni,” Roni corrects, “Help us, Mother?”

“Of course, darling.”

“Just for the record,” Henry hisses, “this is a _terrible_ idea. You _know_ what she’s done.”

“I do and so do you,” Roni says, before pulling her wrist out of his grip. “Take your family to Granny’s. Red will give you a room. Mother and I are paying a visit to the Charmings.”

“We are?” Cora questions wryly.

“Yes, Mother, we are,” Roni says in her _no arguments_ voice, not looking away from Henry. “Don’t leave the B&B or the Diner. Don’t speak to anyone about your book. Don’t let Lucy be led astray – you remember what you were like.”

“Well, I wrote it down in a book, but yeah, I know what you’re on about.” Henry says, calmer, now as he pauses for breath. “What about Hook?”

“What about the pirate?” Roni frowns. Henry raises his eyebrow, lip quirking.

“Well, he’s not exactly the Killian Jones from the epilogue, is he? He’s a villain right now – his redemption hasn’t happened yet, if Cora’s walking around.”

“… _damnit,_ ” Roni grits her teeth. “This all happened years ago for me. I barely remember what happened.”

“Luckily for us, you have me – I edited that book a hundred million times before getting it published,” Henry says, smiling now. “I’ll be your expert on the future, as it were.”

“You’re convinced, then?” Roni questions.

“Oh yeah,” Henry points at Cora for a moment, “The magical transformation sort of did it for me. Strange – you’d think the portal would have done it.”

“I’m sure it helped. Now, off with you. Jacinda’s probably scared out of her mind.”

“Right,” Henry nods, back-peddling, half-twisting to go down the stairs before stopping. “Just a second, though – if I’m really your son, does that mean I get to give the shovel talk to Samdi?”

Roni swallows sharply. “Samdi’s dead, so no.”

“Oh. Sorry.” Henry waits a moment longer before awkwardly leaving. When Roni hears the door shut, she looks to her mother, who raises an eyebrow.

“‘Samdi’?”

“No. Not talking to you about that,” Roni says strictly, firmly aware that this ‘travelling back in time’ thing might mean he’s alive. Crossing her arms, she breathes in deep. “How are you finding magic in this realm?”

“What do you need me to do?” Cora immediately asks, seeing through her.

“I wasn’t kidding about talking to the Charmings – Snow, David, Emma,” Roni lists, “But I also want myself to be there, Regina, I mean. Can you transport us to Snow’s loft apartment and summon Regina to the same location?”

“If I knew where this ‘loft apartment’ was, then of course I could,” Cora says.

“So, no, then,” Roni sighs, before motioning to the stairs. “You first. Don’t worry, I won’t step on your dress.”

“Where am I in your future?” Cora lifts her skirts, doing as directed and walking downstairs once more. Roni spares a glance for Archie’s office door, shut and undisturbed, before following.

“You died. It was quite traumatic, actually,” Roni admits. “I was later recruited for a trip to the Underworld, though, so…we made up. You, Zelena and I.”

Cora stops in the middle of the stairs, hand clamping onto the railing. She continues to look forwards as she sucks in a sharp breath.

“Zelena?”

“…yes,” Roni says softly, “Zelena. My younger self might not be aware she exists, but I definitely am.” She can’t help the ragged breath that comes with the pain in her chest, thinking _Robyn, Margot._ “I don’t know what happened to her, in the future. The world was being destroyed. Everyone was dying. My niece was trapped underground, in the epicentre.”

“What kind of spell was it?” Cora questions, voice quiet, still not moving.

Roni looks at the back of her head, wondering what her face looks like – if she’s wondering about Robyn and Zelena. “One that uses the Dark One as a power source,” she says. Cora takes a moment to process her words before she moves onwards, pace quick.

They reach the landing and leave the building, Roni leading the way towards Snow’s place of residence. The walk is silent. Roni takes the chance to appreciate Storybrooke as it is – taking moments to remember why things look strange, usually because in the future, some disaster has made it necessary to repair or replace some landmarks or buildings.

“Why do you not have your magic?” Cora questions.

“I was in the Land Without Magic,” Roni replies, feeling the lack of magic in Storybrooke, the power still building up in the land. She can feel some of seep into her though, slowly. _Too slowly,_ she thinks, knowing what she has is barely enough to create static, let alone enough to fight her mother if things come to that. “Hyperion Heights wasn’t built to trap them – part of the Curse was one of the defining Cursed individuals pushing people out of town, actually, losing each other to the reality of high-priced real estate. Victoria Belfrey kept trying to steal my fucking bar.”

Roni scowls viciously at the memory, only to freeze at Cora’s sharp words, “Language, Regina; and a _bar,_ really? It’s enough that you have clearly lost your class and sense of style, but profanity is too much.”

 _…what the hell?_ Roni actually stops in the street, staring at her mother. Cora stops after a moment, too, turning to face her.

“Excuse me for my bad language, Mother, but…” Roni laughs, shaking her head, “I’m not intimidated by you, anymore. You can’t tell me what to do and expect me to do it, or comment on my state of dress or lifestyle. We’re _strangers_ , tied together by genetics and bad history. Yes, I’ve asked for your help because you’re more technically skilled in magic, but respect goes two ways.” Roni draws herself up, stepping closer to the witch. “So sorry if I offend you. If you want someone to manipulate, you can go bother my younger self, but she’s still not going to completely fall for it. You never have and never will gain my full trust – you ruined that chance for you a long, _long_ time ago. I think I might even be older than you, right now, you know.”

A stony silence falls and Roni knows she’s made a mistake, but it had to be said. Cora will probably leave her now to kidnap Archie or someone else. _Red, probably, then she’d kidnap Henry, Jacinda and Lucy as well. The future at her grasp and then she’d only have magicless me to deal with._ Because to be truthful, Roni was lying a little about the strangers comment – Roni might be a stranger to Cora, but Cora is far from a stranger to Roni, especially at this point, when she’s driven by ambition rather than love. _Her heart isn’t in her chest. I’ll change that sooner, this time around._

“You’ve changed rather dramatically in your old age, _Roni,_ ” Cora then says, eyeing her critically. “Or maybe not so dramatically. You’re… _self-aware._ I wondered when it would come.”

“I was very gradual,” Roni says, before taking a small step back. “Sorry. That was a little…over the top. Necessary, but over the top.”

“I agree, it was necessary,” Cora draws herself up. “You’re what she becomes. How did you become immortal?”

“I’m just long-lived,” Roni jokes, before slipping her arm into her mothers, walking her down the street. “The Curse helped a lot. I lived through the twenty-eight years aware of everything, so I count them, unlike others. Henry’s thirty-four. I was never good at mathematics.”

“Eighty-five?” Cora hazards, tilting her chin. “You could be _my_ mother.”

Roni chuckles, screwing her face up. In a much more pleasant atmosphere, the two walk side-by-side to Snow’s apartment, Cora refusing to walk all three flights – instead looking between the stair rails to the landing and transporting them outside the door.

“Would you like me to transport Regina here, now?” Cora questions, Roni taking her phone out of her back-pocket as it unexpectedly buzzes. “What is that?”

“Just a minute,” Roni mutters, raising an eyebrow at the ‘ _Welcome to Storybrooke!’_ on her drop-down menu. Then, she looks up sharply, feeling a fluctuation of magic through the town wards – something she hadn’t felt in so very, very long. She shudders as she suddenly keys into them, clutching her phone to her chest as the magic settles around her, filling her up with warmth.

“Roni?” Cora questions, “What is it?”

“The effect of having two of the same people under the Curse while magic is still settling…I think,” Roni shakes her head, looking to her phone again, experimentally sending a text to Lucy, asking if she’s settling in alright.

After a few seconds of waiting, she gets a reply. **_Yes, ok. Lucy is asleep. -Jacinda_**

“Ah,” Roni switches over to Jacinda’s number, messaging her instead. **_Are you ok?_**

**_Yeah. Confused but ok. You?_ **

**_Ask Henry._** Roni replies, putting her phone away into her pocket, Cora watching her thoughtfully. “It’s just my daughter-in-law. I’m just surprised our phones work here. I think the Curse is meddling.” _That ‘Welcome to Storybrooke!’ thing never showed up before, at least._

“What now, then?” Cora questions. “Are we standing out here all night?”

Roni takes a breath. “No. Can you summon…me?”

“Done,” Cora raises her hand and then beside them, between them and the door, blue-purple smoke twirls around, Regina appearing in front of them still holding a glass of wine. Roni eyes it, _wanting_ for a second before changing her mind. _Whisky’s better, anyway,_ Roni dismisses. _Wine goes with food._

“Mother?” Regina’s eyes widen, before she sees Roni and recoils. “What the hell?”

“Language,” Cora admonishes, then introduces them to each other. “Regina, meet your future self. She prefers to name ‘Roni’, which makes things far less confusing. Now, into the apartment.” Cora opens the door with another flick of her wrist, Roni unable to stop the shiver of fear down her spine at the motion, the reaction ingrained into her. Regina backs up into a low-lit room, the Charmings sat on the sofa with their own glasses of wine, TV shining onto their faces.

At the door opening, they get up, Emma Swan herself aiming a gun at them as Snow turns on a light.

“What is this?” Emma reaches a hand out, pulling a shell-shocked Regina behind her, which surprises Roni. “Cora. You’re here.”

“Miss Swan,” Cora greets pleasantly, “How nice to see you again. Princess Snow.”

“Cora,” Snow presses up against David- _no,_ Roni corrects herself, _Mary-Margaret. She’s not actually taken back her identity yet._ “How?”

“I followed you, of course, but that’s not why I’m here tonight. I was invited.” Cora looks to Roni, waiting.

“…oh, right,” Roni blinks back into focus, giving a strained smile, Emma’s blonde hair just reminding her of poor Tilly. “This is all very complicated and you won’t believe a word I say, most likely.”

“How are there two of you?” Emma questions, glancing back at Regina for the briefest of moments.

“I don’t know,” her younger self says, “Mother- Mother said she’s from the future, but that’s impossible.”

“More impossible than adopting the Saviour’s son?” Roni questions. “More impossible than Henry tracking her down on her twenty-eighth birthday? Lots of impossible things happen in this family. It makes the word redundant.” Her phone buzzes, audible in the echoey room. Roni takes it out, glancing at the wide screen, frowning at Jacinda’s long text, opening it up properly.

**_Roni, Henry left. He said he was going to a vault. He took Lucy’s book and found a picture of a cabinet, he said he was getting Cora’s heart back. I don’t understand but I’m worried. Please can you go after him? I don’t want to leave Lucy here somewhere I don’t know._ **

Roni sighs, texting back saying she’ll go after him. “Damnit, Henry, why do I even bother?” _Of course it’s him I needed to worry about. It’ll be Lucy next time, when I’m worried over him._

“What about Henry?” Emma questions, “Who was that?”

“My daughter-in-law,” Roni replies, before putting her phone back. She has to figure out a plan – she didn’t have one beyond bringing together her family and keeping Henry, Jacinda and Lucy safe. _Henry is getting Cora’s heart, which means I need to keep Cora here, until he can get it back to the B &B._ “Listen, I don’t know how I got here, but if I’m here, I might as well do some good, because I can’t go back.”

“Back to where?” David questions.

“Hyperion Heights. Think Storybrooke, but tucked into Seattle and full of strangers. An apprentice of mine stole the Dark Curse and-” Roni pauses, knowing she was about to say _brought us here,_ but that isn’t true. “And it was cast,” she changes her track, “but there were other things at play. Let’s just say that the world ended. It’s easier than telling the full story. We accidentally time-travelled.”

“Where are we?” Emma questions, “If we were all Cursed to live in Seattle, where are we? You said ‘we’ – who’s here with you?”

“Red can corroborate that there were only four of us,” Roni says, clenching her jaw. “Me, Henry, his wife and his daughter. They’re still Cursed – Lucy pulled a Henry, reuniting her parents. They’ve been falling in love with each other all over again. They just don’t remember.”

“But where are _we?_ ” Emma questions, eyebrows raised. “Are we dead? Did you leave us behind?”

Roni looks at her in barely-contained horror, “What? No, Emma, I _wouldn’t_. That- I-” Roni is actually absurdly upset by the question, “I would _never_ leave you behind, any of you. If I could have gotten more- more-” Her eyes are wet and she wipes them angrily, clenching her fists. She points at Emma. “You were in Storybrooke. You were _fine_ , the last time I checked, unlike a lot of people I know.”

Her chest is heaving and everything is hitting her at once. Robyn is dead. Alice is dead. Rogers is dead. Rumple is _dead_. Roni sways, feeling Cora put a hand on her back, that feels cool and steadying as she runs her hands through her hair.

“Regina. Breathe,” Cora commands and Roni does, lungs expanding and deflating. “What do you want?”

“I want my niece to be alive,” Roni croaks, stuck remembering Margot’s yell for help get cut off as boulders and dust fell down between them. “Damnit, damnit, damnit,” she twists and turns, ready to rush out the door, only for a small, confused voice to stop her in her tracks.

“Mom?”

Roni looks back, up – and there he is. Henry. A young Henry, only ten years old, who hasn’t even started growing his nose properly yet. He’s in pyjamas, standing on the top step of the loft stairs.

“Henry, go back to bed,” Emma demands.

“Oh, he’s so young,” Roni says, almost mesmerised. She drinks in his baby soft features, finding herself grinning. “Lucy looks _so_ much like you.”

“Is that your niece?” Henry questions.

“How much did you hear, child?” Cora asks him, instead.

“Basically everything,” Henry admits, picking up a pillow on the top step, “I was watching the movie.”

“ _Henry,_ ” Snow says, sounding disappointed and appalled. “We told you, _no_.”

“Not the time. Henry, go back to bed,” Emma says, gun still aimed at them. Roni forces herself to stop looking at him, realising something important. _Two Henry’s._ She scrambles for her phone all of a sudden, unlocking it and scrolling through her contacts, finding the grown-up Henry’s number, walking past Cora and going up the stairs, calling Henry and putting it on speaker as Emma yells, “Stop!”

But Roni only has eyes for young Henry, holding out her phone from half-way up the steps.

“Talk to him, _mijo._ He doesn’t remember and I need you to help him,” Roni says, “Please.”

“Why…why won’t he remember? If he has a family?” Henry questions, voice small as the older Henry picks up.

“ _Roni, hi, I can’t open the-_ ”

“Don’t talk,” she orders him quickly, “Just listen.”

“… _okay._ ”

“Shush,” Roni orders, before young Henry finally takes the phone, silence filling the room before he speaks.

“Hello? Are you really Henry Mills from the future?”

“… _what?_ ” Older Henry chokes on his own words, “ _What- oh my god-”_

“There’s two of my moms in the room,” young Henry says, frowning. “Three, I mean. Two Regina’s and one Emma. Do you really have a wife and daughter?”

“ _Yes, yes, I do,_ ” older Henry says and Roni can hear him crying. She grins, bouncing on her heel. “ _I have a wife and she- oh, she’s beautiful, she’s amazing, honestly. We- ha! She stole my motorbike! She stole my motorbike so she could go to the ball to assassinate the prince! And Lucy, Lucy found me, she found me, just like I found- **we** found, Emma!_ ” Older Henry sounds so happy, laughing. “ _I’ve got to go, I just- I just need to get Grandma’s heart out of the Vault, then I’ll go back to them._ ”

Roni’s joy wavers, smile fading instantly.

“Okay,” young Henry frowns, “What do you mean, Grandma’s heart?”

“ _Oh, Cora, her heart – it’s in Mom’s Vault because their heart collections both got mixed up. I’m getting it now, so we don’t have to do what really happened, which was kind of…actually, you’re a kid, I’m not going to tell you what it was._ ”

“I’m ten, not a kid!” Henry argues with himself, before Roni snatches her phone back and turns just in time to see Cora disappear in a plume of smoke,

“Shit, Henry-” she speaks into the phone, clenching her fist, “Henry, get out of there, _now_. You were on speaker, idiot Swan!”

“ _I’m going, I’m going. Why am I always a Swan whenever I’m an idiot?_ ”

“Because that’s what Swan’s are!” Roni hisses, before stomping down the stairs, groaning. “Is she there? Are you out?”

“ _Uh…I’m hiding behind a tree. I can see her…oh, **that’s** how you open it. I was going to ask._ ”

“Jacinda told me you were going,” Roni squeezes the bridge of her nose, ignoring everyone else, focused on her son. “You should have been looking after them.”

“ _I just wanted to help, don’t blame Cursed me – and to be fair, I did an awesome job, up until you called._ ”

“You’re not helping your own case. You could be waking up your wife with True Love’s kiss right now if you weren’t out traipsing through a graveyard.”

“ _…okay, you got me there. What do we do about Cora now?_ ”

“I don’t know,” Roni snaps. “She’s my mother. I don’t trust anyone else to handle her.”

“ _What about Zelena? She’s powerful enough._ ”

“Zelena is also the Wicked Witch of the West right now. We’re not going to be very buddy-buddy for a couple of years yet.” Roni runs a hand through her hair again, shutting the apartment door, leaning against it, staring at the wood flooring. “Robyn and the others didn’t make it out.”

“ _…I know. I know. Grandpa’s dead, too._ ”

“I know. I was there. He- he powered the spell,” Roni tells him, “Him and Tilly. Gothel didn’t give them a choice.”

“ _I never thought he’d ever die, y’know._ ”

Roni shakes her head. “To be fair, you’d think that being the Dark One would make death an impossibility.”

“ _I’m going to head back to Ella and Lucy, now. I’ll see you later._ ”

“I love you,” Roni says, standing up.

“ _I love you more._ ”

“Don’t play that game with me, _querido_. I’m always going to love you more and that’s that. Now go see your family.”

 _“I love you more,_ ” Henry says, before hanging up, not giving her a chance to reply. Roni looks at her phone with a fond smile, shaking her head. Her smile fades, though. Looking up, she sees Emma has lowered her gun and the Charmings are a little less fraught. Regina has her arms wrapped around young Henry.

“Doesn’t all this…changing time, isn’t it against the laws of space-time?” Emma questions tentatively.

“A little, which was originally how I recruited Mother to my side. I asked for help figuring it out. Now, she just knows far too much about me, as per usual.” Roni tries to bring some magic up through her fingers for a fireball, but it doesn’t connect, the magic far from settled in her body. All it does it make her hand uncomfortably warm. Looking around, she sees a baseball bat by the door and grabs it, twirling it before resting it over her shoulder, catching the way Emma looks her up and down slyly. A little restless, Roni gives the sheriff an unexpected wink, which causes her to blink rapidly.

A glance at Regina shows that her younger self is far from impressed – horrified is the better word. Roni smirks at her.

“Listen. In the future, I was Cursed to Hyperion Heights to be a sad, lonely bartender estranged from her sister and niece, who failed the application for adoption that Regina Mills passed.” Roni tilts her chin, watching Regina hold onto the younger version of their son even tighter. “Despite that, I had a good thing going in Seattle. Even met up with Facilier a few times.”

Regina straightens abruptly, eyes widening. “Really?”

“He was convincing,” Roni grins, putting the baseball bat back. “You know, he got our necklace back, too, just for us. Real smitten.”

Regina scoffs, “ _Smitten?_ Facilier was never _smitten_.”

“Facilier _was_ after the Dark One’s dagger,” Roni admits, “but he cured Henry. Lucy made a deal, or…something. I think it was more blackmail than anything, though.”

“Why did Henry need to be cured?” Snow questions, startled.

“Poison.” Roni eyes her, “My apprentice and Gothel. The only way to preserve his life was to cast the Dark Curse. Credit where it’s due, your leaps of faith aren’t _always_ completely idiotic. True Love’s can give their better half’s heart then split their own to bring them back.” Roni brings her own hand up, pressing it against her sternum. Even now – if she concentrates – she can feel him, Henry, getting closer and closer.

“…wait, _you_ cast the second Dark Curse?” young Henry’s eyes widen. “To save _me?_ And you have a True Love in the future?”

Roni smiles at him. “It was _far_ from the second time that Curse was cast, Henry and of course I do. You really think that Emma was the only one who could have brought you back to life in that hospital? Yes, Emma loves you very much, but right now-” Roni gestures to Regina “-that woman right behind you would give her life ten times over before Emma could even blink. Don’t forget that.”

Henry looks up, back at his mother, whose smile visibly trembles on her face as Henry grabs at her hands, clutching them tight against him, leaning into her more. As they share a moment, a boom of True Love pushes through them all and Roni grins, eyes sliding shut, knowing that love well.

_Ella and Henry. Go get ‘em, tiger._

“Who…” Emma starts, before looking to Roni. “Was that-”

“Jacinda and Henry – or rather, Ella and Henry. Multiple realms, multiple Cinderella’s,” Roni drawls, “it’s a long story. Henry’s story, actually. Ella’s step-sister, Drizella, was my apprentice. She had mommy-issues, for good reason. Rapunzel was a bitch.”

“Excuse me?” Regina frowns, “Mind your language in front of Henry.”

“Want to hear some more bad language?” Roni teases, eyes glittering. “Grilled cheese from Granny’s is better than kale salad.”

Emma chokes, snorting with laughter. “Oh my god. Regina, your future self is hilarious.”

“Hilarious?” Regina sounds horrified.

“I appreciate the good things in life. I’m eighty-five, give or take and I still look fine as hell, so something must be working.” Roni says, neglecting to detail her gym habits or daily calorie intake.

“No _way_ are you eighty-five,” Emma stares, looking her up and down. “No way. You’re- you’re-”

“You can say ‘gorgeous’, Miss Swan,” Roni preens, “I hear it enough.”

“Oh my god,” Snow mutters to herself lowly. “I must look terrible.”

“You’re not too bad, actually,” Roni says, before deciding that’s enough information for now. _Neal might not exist if I’m not careful._ That was definitely something that needed to happen. At her words, Snow throws her a curious glance and quite honestly, it’s strange enough to see her with such short hair, let alone a genuinely encouraging look.

Roni gives an over-dramatic sigh, before casually walking over to Snow, smirking about how her ankle boots give her some height over the pyjama’d princess. David slips an arm around her shoulders, drawing her nearer and Roni actually pauses to give him an _are you serious_ face. Then, she looks to Snow, who in this moment is far more important to give a better impression to – Snow can be convinced in a single sitting, but Charming takes time.

“Snow, trust me when I say things do get better. No, it’s not like you dreamed it might be one day, but it’s special and it’s ours. More than once, to my own displeasure I’ve been lumped in as one of ‘the Charmings’, if that means anything. I haven’t seen your future self in a while, no, but that’s more due to distance than dislike. There are going to be ups and downs. Don’t give up on me. I need your infernal eternal hope, at times.”

“Really?”

“Really,” Roni confirms, before her phone buzzes. She takes it out, receiving a picture from Lucy of the second generation of Mills in the B&B.

**_We’re back, Grandma!!!_ **

“Cheeky girl,” Roni grins, before showing Snow the picture. “You’ve got Henry as a grandson, I’ve got Lucy. I think I got the better deal.”

“Oh, she’s adorable,” Snow gasps, “Is that the other Ella?”

“Yes,” Roni says, before twisting her phone back around to text Lucy. **_I told you not to call me that! <3_**

“Can I see?” Henry questions, slipping over, followed by Emma, Regina peering from a distance. Roni shows him the picture of his older self and his family. “That’s my daughter?”

“Your older self’s daughter, Lucy,” Roni says, before snaking past him and bumping shoulders with Regina, swapping her phone with Regina’s wine, which she had sat down on a nearby table. Her nose wrinkles at the first taste. “Ugh, why do you drink this on its own? It’s not like we _actually_ have any chocolate to have with it.”

“Give that back,” Regina takes her wine back and when their fingers brush, there’s a certain frisson of magic that makes them both shiver. Regina sips her wine, peering at the picture. “They seem…lovely.”

Roni rolls her eyes, taking her phone back. “Like you mean that. You’ve got a ten year old, not a thirty-four year old. You’re not ready to see him in graduation robes, let alone with kids.”

“Well,” Regina struggles, “You’re not _wrong_ , however, I like to think I have more taste than that.”

“Restraint is admirable, but don’t bother with me. I remember being you. You can’t say anything that could offend me.”

Immediately, Regina narrows her eyes and Roni knows instantly she has made a huge mistake.

“You’re ruining our reputation by wearing jeans like some try-hard karaoke-goer; and flowers can’t fix the fact that your jacket is too big. Where did you even get it? A thrift shop?” Regina sneers, looking her up and down, “I wonder what other tacky accessories you have on that I can’t see. A naval ring? A tattoo?”

Roni narrows her eyes. “First off, jeans are comfier than _any_ of our pantsuits and I know that for a fact, because I’ve worn them all. Second: you can talk, wearing that kind of underwear for no-one but yourself and by the way, I don’t have a tattoo anymore. That was a Cursed persona thing that I had no part in and I _stand_ by that.”

Regina balks. “Any- _more?_ How tacky was it that you had to get it removed?”

“The only reason I refuse to tell you is because Emma is in the room,” Roni points at the gaping blonde. “She’d hold it over you until the end of time. Only two- _four_ people we know- _I_ know, have any idea what it says.”

“Wait,” Emma puts her gun away finally, “Does that mean you have song lyrics? A quote? Where and what?”

“Not telling,” Roni hisses, glaring, cheeks red. “I refuse; and!” Roni turns back to Regina, taking off her jacket, showing her the label, “This is designer, thank-you! I paid three hundred dollars for it.” Noticing Emma getting closer, Roni eyes her, trying and failing to keep her from going behind her, jumping when she hooks her finger under her tank-top. “ _Miss Swan!_ ”

“Thought I saw something, blame the wine,” Emma points at the table, where two empty wine bottles stand innocently. Roni tugs her tank-top down. “Nice cover-up tattoo, though. How much did you pay for it?”

Absolutely _dead_ inside, Roni automatically tries to transfer away, but barely gets a wisp of smoke by her feet. Looking to Henry instead, she points upstairs.

“Bed. Now.”

“I’ll go if I get to see!” Henry says, before Regina starts to push him in the direction of the stairs manually. “Are you going to go?”

“I’ll be at Granny’s B&B,” Roni says, “Good night, _mijo._ ” She waits until Henry and Regina have disappeared out of sight before turning back to Emma. “Don’t ever do that again,” she warns. “I don’t care if you’re tipsy. Unless I’m willingly letting you undress me, which I don’t think will ever happen, don’t touch my clothes.”

Emma puts her hands up, “Fine with me.”

Roni glances at Snow and David. “Granny’s at ten?”


End file.
